Why Do You Kill?
by SyberiaWinx
Summary: The story of the doomed Kiryu twins, from before their ritual to the Repentance. Also learn who the Tsuchihara twins are.
1. Akane Kiryu

Why Do You Kill?

Disclaimer: You'd never guess, but I don't own Fatal Frame! Gasp :P

**Chapter One: Akane Kiryu**

"The Ritual…Two Chosen Children…become one.…" Akane whispered to herself as if in a daze, kneeling in front of the mirror stand in the room she shared with her sister Azami, who had already fallen fast asleep, only inches away from her.

The two girls were twins, with identical black hair that fell to their waists and deep brown eyes that were barely visible from underneath their long bangs. In the ten years that they had been alive, they had never been apart. But…all that would change soon. She just had a feeling. And that feeling was what kept her awake now, with no promise of falling asleep again.

She had slept for a little while…but then the dream had come-the dream that had kept her awake for the past couple of days. It was more of a nightmare actually…a nightmare so real that it terrified her.

Her and her sister in white kimonos, bound to one another by a long, glowing red sash. They were in a large, cold stone room that was so very dark, even though there were lit candles everywhere. A soft bell could be heard chiming in the distance. They spoke, voices barely above a whisper, first her and then Azami:

"Everyone..."

"…died."

The twins clasped hands then. There were people laying everywhere, and a woman in a similar kimono-hers stained with crimson-was laughing madly amongst them. She did not look like anyone in the village that they knew, but there was something about her…_something_...

"Azami…We'll be together forever…right?"

Sorry, it is so short! The first two are just kind of intros to the twins-I'll try to make the others longer. Please read and review!


	2. Azami Kiryu

Why Do You Kill?

Disclaimer: Nope, Fatal Frame is not mine.

**Chapter Two: Azami Kiryu**

"A butterfly…that will save this village…" Azami sat in front of her mirror stand, whispering quietly to herself. It was only early morning, but she did not want to go back to sleep, not that she could. That weird dream was still running through her mind. She did not understand what it meant…

Akane, her twin sister, was talking in her sleep, tossing and turning. Was she having a strange dream too? Azami considered waking her up but decided against it. She wanted to think about her dream a little more.

She had been alone…alone and scared…Akane had broken her promise and left her. She was crying in a strange room filled with candles. Suddenly, a butterfly with glowing crimson wings flew over to her. It was so pretty…but then it flew away. So she started to chase after it.

Azami had followed the butterfly down a long staircase made of stone, until she came to a room with a giant square hole in the floor. She came to a sudden stop as she passed under the Shinto gate at the entrance to it.

Everything became black and white, save for the glowing red of the butterfly and the sash on her white kimono. People with paper over their faces were lined up on either side of the room and seemed to be watching her, long golden poles in their hands. The butterfly fluttered at the edge of the pit, as if beckoning her to come closer.

And she did, looking at the odd men as she passed between them. When she finally reached the butterfly it flew over her shoulder with a chiming sound like that of a bell. She turned and saw it land on the neck of Akane, who was slowly walking towards her-dressed in the same kimono,- eyes hidden in the shadows cast from her long bangs. It made her look kind of creepy.

"Akane…?"

Silently, the approaching twin reached Azami. Gripping her arms tightly, Akane pulled her sister close, her mouth hovering over her ear. "Why did you make me do it?" she whispered in an anguished voice.

And then she pushed her.

Azami had woken up covered in sweat and shaking. Even once she realized it had all been a dream, she could not shake her fear away. Something bad was going to happen soon…something that would tear them apart forever.


	3. Festival

Why Do You Kill?

Disclaimer: Fatal Frame belongs to someone who is not me.

**Chapter Three: Festival**

Azami and Akane walked through the village with their father, hands tightly clasped. Both wore red kimonos with dancing gold butterflies on them. It was custom for all young girls in All Gods Village to do so today, for it was the day of the festival. And while neither of the Kiryu twins knew much about it, both found it an exciting time, as they had been told it only happened once every decade or two.

A butterfly that seemed to have an eerie red glow fluttered overhead. Akane pointed at it excitedly and asked why it did not look like the ones she saw near the river outside the village. Her father told her with a rather sad expression that it was a special type of butterfly that only appeared as the festival drew near. He said it helped keep their village safe and healthy and watched over them always.

"I wish I were a butterfly…" Azami said with a child's innocence, not noticing the shattered expression on her father's face. He hurried them forward, grateful they were still too young to really notice the looks the other villagers gave them as they passed. How he wished he could protect his daughters from them…

The small family continued walking until they reached the shrine. On the day of the festival, some chose to come to pray to the gods. It was here that Azami and Akane spotted another pair of twins-standing in front of it, hands clasped tightly together just like their own.

The two girls could not have been more than thirteen years of age. They both had short black hair and wore identical kimonos-the same kimonos, both Kiryu twins noted, that had haunted their dreams, only the sash was not glowing and did not connect the two girls. They turned with a start when they realized they were not alone. With a bow, they stepped aside and allowed the family to enter.

The Kiryus returned the bow and went inside. Akane wrinkled her nose at the musty smell that hung in the air-she hated coming to the shrine. Azami usually did the same, but her curiosity was just unbearable.

"Father, who were those two girls?"

The old man was silent for a moment. "They are to be the shrine maidens for the festival." he said finally. "Kizumi and Kozue-The twin daughters of the Tsuchihara family. They probably came here to pray as well."

Azami was quiet. It had seemed to her that the girls had been nervous about coming into the shrine-kind of like the time when her and Akane had accidentally trampled their father's favorite flowers and had been afraid to go into the house. What could they be afraid of at the shrine, though? Did they maybe hate the smell too?

When the Kiryus left, there was no sign of the twins. But as they started down the stairs, Azumi thought she saw two figure in white hurrying through the doors to the shrine, but she said nothing. The family returned to their home in silence.

Later that night, a terrible storm was raging outside. The Kiryu twins had gotten special permission to stay up and were huddled together just beyond a large sliding screen, watching their father move around-comforted just by his presence.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the front door. The twins exchanged a glance. Who could be visiting at this late hour? They watched through their small hole near the bottom of the screen as their father opened the door and a scary-looking man stepped in out of the rain.

The twins' father immediately bowed deeply. "Ceremony Master." he greeted, then straightened.

The other man nodded. "Yoshitatsu, I'm afraid there's been an accident."

"An accident? What has happened?" The Kiryu twins became instantly alert and pressed their ears against the screen so as not to miss a single word.

"The Tsuchihara twins were trying to escape their role in the ceremony by fleeing the village. They went under the fence in the shrine and used the underground passageway. We rushed to catch them, but were too late-we found their bodies crushed under the rubble from a cave-in that was caused by the earthquake earlier."

Akane squeezed her sister's hand, tears in her eyes. Even at their young age, they understood that the two girls from the shrine-the twins-were dead.

"You know what this means, don't you, Yoshitatsu."

"But-But they are so young!" their father's voice cried in protest.

"Yes, I know it is custom for the Twin Shrine Maidens to be at least fifteen, but the ritual must be the top priority. The Tsuchihara twins were the oldest in the village, though they were only thirteen, so we had to use them. But now they are dead, and your daughters are the only ones left to perform the ritual and save the village!"

The twins could see their father was going to attempt to argue some more, but they rose in unison and went to where the two men stood.

"We will do it, Father." Azami said bravely, holding her head high.

Akane nodded. "We want to save the village."

Their father begun to weep at this and even the Ceremony Master's face softened slightly. For while both knew the girl's devotion to the village was strong, their devotion to eachother was no doubt stronger. And so both wondered if the twins would feel the same way once they learned that in order to protect the village, one of them would have to have to kill the other.


	4. Nightmare

Why Do You Kill?

Disclaimer: Insert witty disclaimer here 

**Chapter Four: Nightmare**

It had been nearly a year since the Kiryu twins had made the decision to be the Shrine Maidens for the next ceremony. Over that period of time, the two young girls would have forgotten their duty had it not been for the strange things they had begun to notice after that rainy night.

The villagers looked at them strangely-some with fear, others with respect, and some even with sadness. In truth, they always had, but neither twin had ever noticed it before. When they would ask their father the meaning behind the villagers odd stares, he would either not answer or become extremely upset. There had been a strain in his smile ever since that day, and often they wondered if he was upset with them. He _had_ seemed to be against their participation in the festival…Was there something about this ceremony that he was not telling them? What had been so terrible that the Tuschihara twins would want to escape the village?

Azami was the one most troubled by all these things. For not only could she sense the ominous aura that hung in the air, but she had started having her dreams again-a different one each night, and they always seemed to get worse. They all were creepy in their own way, but the one that frightened her the most was the most recent one-the only one she'd had more than once.

Again they were wearing the white kimonos and standing in the room with the large hole in the floor. The glowing red sash that once bound them together had been severed, and one of the twins lay unconscious on the floor-the other looking over her. And then suddenly, the ground beneath them cracked and shattered. The unconscious twin fell into the never-ending sea of darkness below, while the other remained suspended in the air near the Shinto arch-held up by a red rope around her neck…

The little girl woke up screaming. Akane woke up with a start and rushed to her sister's bedside. "Azami, what's wrong!"

The younger girl tried to answer, but her words were swallowed by her sobs. Their father came rushing in after hearing the commotion. This sight of one of his daughters in hysterical tears brought a mask of worry to his face. He knelt beside her and asked what had happened.

After she calmed down, Azami answered: "I had a bad dream…The ritual...Father, what's going to happen to us during the ritual!"

Both girls turned to look at the older man, who adverted his gaze. He had always known this day would come-the day when he would have to tell his daughters about the true nature of the ritual. But even though there had not been a spare second when he had not thought about it, he still had no idea how he was going to tell his children that one of them was going to die at the hands of the other.

"Azami…Akane…" he began, unable to look at his daughters even as he spoke. "There is a reason why only twins can be used in the ritual. They were originally one being-a deity-who was split into two at birth. The power that resonates when they are made one again is what saves this village…but at a terrible price." He shook his head. "That is a price few twins wish to pay, but most go through with the ritual anyway, for whatever reason. The Tsuchihara twins were the first to try and escape their fate, but sadly, they did not make it."

Squeezing her sister's hand, Azami asked their father the one question on both of their minds: "What is the ritual, father?"

He hesitated. "The Crimson Sacrifice Ritual."

Both sisters froze at the word "sacrifice". So that was why their father had fought so hard back then to stop them from becoming the Twin Shrine Maidens. They were going to be killed-murdered for the sake of the village.

"Two Chosen Children…become one…" Akane whispered weakly, recalling the words from a distant dream.

"A butterfly that will save this village…" Azami added just as quietly.

"Yes, one of you will become a butterfly and watch over the village."

A knot formed in Azami's stomach. "One of us?"

"On the day of the ceremony, the elder twin must become one with the younger…by making her into a butterfly. In order to save this village, Akane, you must…kill Azami." Yoshitatsu could no longer hold back his tears and wept openly in front of his young daughters. "Please forgive me! I never wanted either of you to meet this fate!"

Azami was too stunned to speak. Akane broke down crying and started shrieking in protest, shaking her head. Azami wanted to, but she could not bring herself to cry in front of her sister. Instead, she leaned over and hugged her.

"…It's ok, Akane. I-I don't mind. We can be together in the same body-and we'll be helping the village…So, don't be sad, ok?"

"I don't want to kill you! I don't want to kill you!" Akane sobbed over and over, until she eventually fell asleep in her twin's arms. Azami assured her father everything was fine, and he returned to his room in silence.

"I…I don't want to die…" Azami whispered to herself-her tears escaping freely now that no one could see. "Akane…"

"…don't kill me…"


End file.
